356 
SAGACITY OF BEES. 
of attention, could come at the conclusion that the 
bees raised such comb by mechanical means and then 
put under the props for its support, is somewhat sin- 
gular. Their efforts united for such a purpose like 
reasonable beings, I never witnessed. 
These things, considered as the effect of instinct, are 
none the less wonderful on that account. I am not 
sure but the display of wisdom is even greater than if 
the power of planning their own operations had been 
given them. 
I have mentioned these, to show that a course of 
action called forth by the peculiar situation of one 
family, would be copied by another in a similar emer- 
gency, without being aware of its ever being done 
before. Were I engaged in a work of fiction, I might 
let fancy reign and endeavor to amuse, but this is not 
the object. Let us endeavor then to be content with 
truth, and not murmur with its reality. When we 
take a survey of the astonishing regularity with which 
they construct their combs without a teacher, and 
remember that the waxen material is formed in the 
rings of their body, that for the first time in life, 
without an experienced leader’s direction, they apply 
a claw to detach it, that they go forth to the fields 
and gather stores unbidden by a tyrant’s mandate, 
and throughout the whole cycle of their operations, 
one law and power governs. Whoever would seek 
mind as the directing power, must look beyond the 
censorium of the bee for the source of all we behold 
in them ! 
